What I am reading.

I finished Pattern Recognition the other day. I really enjoyed it. It's been awhile since I read any Gibson, but I think he has matured as a writer.

Or maybe I've matured as a reader.

I read some discussion online about if this book was science fiction or not. I don't think it is. It's clearly set in the present, in fact some of the computer model and such are a few years outdated.
I would say the book is set in 'hyper-reality', that is, it is set in our reality, but the gadgets and such are of a high end above the day to day reality of most people. World class designers jet set around with ex-Russian mafia types with high end clothing and toys most of us can only read about.

I would compare it to The Ian Fleming James Bond novel. Fleming was from the "upper crust" and one way he added a touch of the exotic to the Bond novels was by using high end brands. Bond didn't just shave, but he used such and such shaving cream, with a special razor.

Gibson does the same sort of thing and paints Cayce Pollard as a world class developer of trademarks and trends. Her obsession with an online film footage leads her from London to Tokyo to Russia. Believe me, I'm not doing it justice.

Next up:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

This is the book the movie Bladerunner is 'based' on. I read this once in the early '80s, but I don't remember much of it.

Dick is know for his paranoid, 'what is going on' storylines. His characters comonly question who (and what) they are. things are never what they seem. I read some of his work when I was a kid, but I'm hoping to experience his work through a new perspective.